More than 11,300 wines on 950 pages, 9,138 recommendations which wine goes with which food, and more than 800 described aromas: These superlatives would already be impressive for the wines of the world - but Guy Bonnefoit gathers these facts in his new compendium exclusively about the wines of France
Bonnefoit France", published by Kornmayer Verlag, is the third major work of the sommelier, wine and gastronomy expert, who was born in Paris in 1938, and it is not a work of weight because of its lavish volume. Bonnefoit succeeds in the masterpiece to describe aromatically the variety of French wines, which is difficult to grasp, from the simple Bourgogne Aligoté to top wines like Haut Brion or Romanée Conti, and to recommend matching dishes - and not only one, mostly a whole dozen
For each appellation, Guy Bonnefoit provides a short description of the estate, the soil, and the climate, lists the grape varieties, and gives recommendations about the storage period and the perfect drinking temperature. Finally, the wine expert lists the determining and, visually marked, the less intense aromas of the wine. He catalogues them in the categories fruit, plant, spice and miscellaneous. Vintage differences do not play a role - in this context, they would have caused more confusion than they would have been useful for the reader anyway. Bonnefoit's mission is the perfect pairing of food and wine, and it is from this approach that he has conceived his encyclopedia of tastes. He does this with a meticulousness and scope that is probably unique in this form.
The work begins with an expert introduction to proper wine tasting, the physiology of flavor recognition, the classification of flavors, and basic information on food preparation, the order of courses, and the influence of cooking methods and spices. The wines themselves are divided into the individual appellations of the growing regions and can also be found very easily directly with the help of the index. The dishes are also listed in a separate index, and thus, the (hobby) cook has the choice between about 140 wines that go well with salmon dishes, with the leg of lamb there are even a few more. This is why the book belongs to the bookshelves of ambitious restaurateurs and cooks who want to offer their paying guests something more than the usual.
In one of the prefaces, Paul Brunet, two times "France's best sommelier", emphasizes Bonnefoit to dissect the wines during tastings "like an entomologist". His merit is "the highlighting of many points in wine description that have been treated too little so far", for instance "that of the olfactory approach to the scents and flavors in nature".
But aside from the academic, meticulous element, it's just a lot of fun to flip through the massive work, look up wines in your own cellar, compare the listed aromas with your own notes, and see what you might eat with them and how. There are a lot of surprises to discover, which wonderfully inspires one's own desire for something new : You could try it. Even if you don't want to stick meticulously to Guy Bonnefoit's food suggestions, it's easy to find your own way based on the information and still stay on safe ground. This aspect is lacking in many wine reference books and is thus a particular credit to the author. The book won the "Best Book on French Wine" award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. Quite rightly so.
Uwe Kauss
Bonnefoit France: Fascination Wine & Flavours
Hardcover edition, 955 pages
Kornmayer publishing house, 2008
69,90 Euro
ISBN-10: 3938173297